Woodcock Banding

From Outdoor Journal

Woodcock are beloved by bird hunters and bird watchers alike, but these fascinating little migrants are nonetheless faring poorly. Human development and maturing forests are steadily eating away the thick, brushy habitat that woodcock require, and their numbers are likewise declining. In the last three decades, there has been a two to three percent decline each year in the number of American Woodcock in the East. One area where woodcock are doing surprisingly well is the Ethan Allen Firing Range in Vermont, where biologists are capturing and banding woodcock in order to better understand their habitat needs. Host Lawrence Pyne joins Scott Williamson from the Wildlife Management Institute on a nighttime woodcock banding operation at the firing range in Jericho.